Pickens: ‘We’re paying for both sides of the war’

Aug 21

Pickens: ‘We’re paying for both sides of the war’

Category: Misc

By Denise Ross

At 80, T. Boone Pickens is pushing the US to develop its domestic energy in various forms for one reason - the bottom line. The USA is now sending $700 billion out of our country every year, and if we don’t change our energy habits that number will only grow, he told a Rapid City crowd Wednesday.

(Photos by David Larson)

Judging from his aptitude at the dry erase board, Pickens might have missed a calling as a classroom teacher.

Because of the end of cheap oil and, as he says in his TV commercials, “the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind,” the US cannot continue importing 70% or more of its oil and expect to remain a wealthy nation.

It’s not sustainable. If we don’t get it fixed, we won’t have to worry about health care or education or any of the rest of it. We won’t have enough money to take care of anything.

And we’re not just sending all that money out of our country, we’re sending it to a lot of countries that want to do us harm, he said. We are literally funding hostilities against ourselves.

We’re paying for both sides of the war. The reason it happened is because of cheap oil. We act like we’re producing all the oil we’re using.

A burgeoning supply of domestic natural gas is “a way to get ourselves out of a trap,” Pickens said. He also said that he is “suspicious” that oil prices spiked after the US had become thoroughly dependent on that form of energy.

His plan really is sorta simple: Use the natural gas that’s now supplying 22 percent of the nation’s electricity needs, convert that to vehicle fuel and replace it on the electricity front with wind power.

Wind is a huge asset that’s been unharvested because of cheap oil. … Natural gas is half the price of diesel and is 70% cleaner. It’s abundant, and it’s ours. It’s almost unbelievable that we haven’t used that resource.

For more details, visit the Pickens Plan website.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the numbers he used to underscore his point that our country needs to - and is able to - change now.

Under his plan, we could keep $300 billion of that $700B in this country right away, creating jobs and boosting our economy.
The world produces 85 million barrels of oil a day - what he called maximum capacity.
The US consumes 21 million of those barrels, 25% of the world supply. We have 4% of the world’s population.
Worldwide demand for oil next year is projected at 87 million barrels per day.
The US produces 5 million barrels of oil a day and 2 million barrels of natural gas, which, Pickens said, “is as good as oil.”
Biofuels production generates another 2 million barrels, which Pickens said he believes is maxed out. (I question that given the continued expansion and devlopment in that industry.)
Because of our country’s meager oil production level, the US does not need more refineries, Pickens said. (He must not be pals with the Hyperion Texans.) Also, other countries are planning refineries that could handle much more capacity and would likely render any new US refinery moot.
Pickens said he declined a recent request from the White House that he build a refinery because he believed he soon would not be able to get the oil needed to run it, and the White House declined to guarantee he could dip into the strategic reserve. (Next phone call to Mr. Huddleston?)
Natural gas production in the US is poised to explode with the discovery of several underground reservoirs within the past decade across the southeastern US and due to improved technology that allows the extraction of natural gas from shale.
Saudi Arabia and Russia each produce 9 million barrels of oil per day. “We are importing more than they’re exporting,” Pickens said, noting that friendships with a few key nations won’t guarantee an oil supply for the US.
Around the globe, 8 million vehicles run on natural gas; 142,000 of those are in the US.
General Motors produces 19 varieties of natural gas-powered vehicles - none in the US.
The bus systems in Beijing and Los Angeles already run on natural gas, and the trucks that serve the Port of Los Angeles are now being converted to natural gas.
Russia and Iran have plans to convert domestic vehicles to natural gas and continue selling their oil abroad.
Pickens has invested $58 million of his own funds to promote his plan. He has no partners.